Heritage Sites and Public Events

Weston Park and Norton Priory

If you’ve read previous editions of this newsletter, then you’ll know that we’ve carried out a good number of aerial surveys and photogrammetry projects at some very popular heritage sites across the UK. Over the summer, however, one or two of these sites have played host to some rather unusual outdoor events and sUAVe has been on hand to document the various goings-on.

Weston Park in Shropshire is a good example. Originally created as a medieval deer park, it now comprises more than a thousand acres of beautifully landscaped grounds – the work of the renowned designer ‘Capability’ Brown – and at its heart is Weston House, a grand manor house, built in the 17th Century. Nevertheless, it was not the park’s rich history that brought us to the site but a request from the organisers of Camper Jam 2011, a huge meeting of Volkswagen camper van enthusiasts. Seven thousand visitors attended the three day festival, with more than four thousand of them staying overnight in around 2,500 camper vans. Our UAV captured the scene with a series of impressive images, which delighted the organisers and which you can review here on the sUAVe website.

An altogether different event was held in June at Norton Priory in Cheshire, which hosted BioBlitz – a biodiversity event in which specialists and members of the public collaborate to locate and identify as many plant and animal species as possible in a 24 hour period. Hundreds of visitors and more than a hundred experts surveyed the 13th Century Priory estate and recorded more than 400 different species. Our aerial photographs recorded the event for posterity.